


It's a Kwami Swap (but not as you know it!)

by MerakiMela



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Kwami Swap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-09-15 10:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16931454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerakiMela/pseuds/MerakiMela
Summary: Tikki and Plagg learn that magic glitches aren't as fun as they thought they'd be. Meanwhile, Marinette and Adrien just wish they could have had some sort of warning before waking up as all-powerful gods.





	1. Waking Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw /those/ leaks, it inspired me to post my own kwami swap story that I forgot I started writing! 
> 
> This is going to be fun to write, so I hope it will be fun to read!
> 
> Allons-y!

The last thing Marinette needed after a night of turbulent sleep was a loud harsh noise threatening to pop her eardrums. Regardless, she awoke to her alarm blaring ten times louder than it had ever been before, sounding more like a mechanical scream now. She rolled over to turn it off as quickly as she could, but if the noise hadn’t woken her completely, the sensation of moving would have. Instead of feeling her joints and muscles working together to reach, she felt... something very hard to describe. The most succinct way she could would be to say it felt alien. Her eyes blew open in shock; an action she regretted immediately. Everything looked enormous, including her pillow, which she seemed to be able to fit her entire body on. Feeling the same alien sensation in her legs as she did her arms, Marinette looked down to see that all her limbs had been replaces by bright red blobs. She let out a yelp, surprising herself with how high pitched it was, especially compared to the low groaning noise coming from somewhere behind her.

“Tikki?” Marinette whispered, attempting to prepare herself for a fight without gaining the attention of whatever was groaning behind her.

“Marinette, what happened? I feel so heavy…” Mumbled a very familiar voice. Marinette finally allowed herself to roll over to see who was making all that noise just in time to see an arm flail and crash down on top of her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she squealed and attempted to wiggle her way free. Within her new form, she felt the instinct to rise and move through what was trapping her. Listening to that instinct, a tingling sensation ran through her body as she floated upwards. Suddenly she was out from under the arm looking down at herself, or rather, what looked like her normal body. The other her was clumsily flopping around, attempting to sit up when she looked up and noticed Marinette with a look of pure shock. Marinette looked down at her new, red blob form, then back at the human form in front of her and like a flick of a switch she realised what was happening.

“Tikki! I’m you! You’re me! What’s going on?” Marinette exclaimed, gesticulating as wildly as she could with her tiny, Tikki arms. Tikki dropped the shocked expression, a look of excited comprehension replacing it.

“Oh! I think I know what happened! Ooh! This is so exciting! I’ve never glitched before! I’ve seen it happen to other kwamis, but – ” Tikki babbled, bouncing into an upright position as she spoke, before Marinette cut her off.

“Stop! What do you mean “glitched”?” Tikki breathed deeply and nodded at the question.

“As you know, a Miraculous allows a kwami to channel their magic safely through a human conduit. That means that every time a chosen transforms, the kwami’s magic flows through their body, changing the chosen at a cellular level. Now, like your cells, it’s possible for magic to mutate, or “glitch”, every time it regenerates. What’s happened to us is a rare type of glitch that switches the minds of the kwami and the chosen when they detransform. We just didn’t notice because you fell asleep as Ladybug and we detransformed while sleeping.” Tikki explained enthusiastically as Marinette tried her best to follow and to not get distracted by how her own face looks when showing excitement.

“So if it’s rare, then I guess we can’t just wait for it to happen again to switch us back.” Marinette questioned once she let the explanation settle. Tikki gave a confident nod, jiggling Marinette’s pigtails.

“Yes. The last time I saw this happen was about five hundred years ago. This is also the first time it’s happened to me, so the sun could supernova before we glitch again.” Marinette groaned as she sunk sadly in the air.

“My human body won’t make it to either of those times! Are we stuck? I can’t marry Adrien if I’m a kwami! I can’t never talk to my parents again! I can’t be immortal, I’d go even more insane!” She ranted, flopping back onto the bed. She flinched in surprise when she felt a hand run over her head in a comforting stroke.

“Marinette, please calm down. There’s another, much easier way to fix this. We just need to get it from Master Fu.” Tikki reassured, voice turning gentle and soothing. Marinette perked up and flew back up to eye level with Tikki.

“Really? Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” She cheered. Tikki giggled, before climbing over the ledge of the bed and dropping straight to the floor.

“Marinette?! Are you okay?” Called out Sabine from somewhere downstairs.

“I’m okay! I just forgot I can’t fly!” Tikki called out, before wincing and covering her mouth with both hands. She only relaxed when she heard the distinct sound of Sabine chuckling to herself and walking away.

“Tikki, you need to be more careful. We don’t want my parents getting suspicious.” Marinette criticised.

“Sorry, Marinette. I’m not used to talking to people. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.” Tikki apologised with a shrug. With a sigh, Tikki awkwardly rose to her feet and walked clumsily to Marinette’s closet like a new born deer. Marinette opened her mouth to comment, but decided against it. The look on her face said that Tikki was very aware of how badly she was doing. When Tikki walked straight into the closet door with a grunt, Marinette couldn’t help but giggle.

“I suppose you forgot you can’t phase, too.”

“It’s no fair, Marinette! You figured out how to fly and phase straight away! Why can’t I get the hang of this?” Tikki whined, dropping her face into her hands. Marinette flew to her and offered a tiny, comforting pat.

“I just let your body’s instincts take over. I bet if you stopped thinking about it so much, muscle memory would kick in.” Marinette suggested, her optimism suiting the sweet tone of Tikki’s voice.

“Just do some jumping jacks while focusing on what you’re going to wear and see if it works.”

With that, Tikki dropped her hands from her face and nodded in affirmation. Marinette phased through the closet door and pushed it open from the inside, before floating out of the way so Tikki could see. Tikki took a deep breath, before beginning a series of unbalanced jumping jacks. As her eyes bounced between various clothing items, the jumping jacks grew steadier and more coordinated each time. Marinette cheered, causing Tikki’s eyes to light up.

“You were right!” She exclaimed, ceasing her jumping to do a few small, excited claps. Filled with new confidence, Tikki quickly got changed before practically bouncing down to the kitchen. Marinette remembered at the last minute to go with her, and zoomed after her and dove into the purse.

“Good morning, maman!” Tikki greeted warmly. Marinette could feel the purse being pressed between two bodies, figuring that Tikki had chosen to give her mother a hug.

“Good morning, sweetheart! You seem excited today. Is that why you’re up on time?” Sabine commented with a chuckle.

“I’m just very happy to be able to hug you and talk to you, that’s all.” Tikki explained sweetly. Sabine cooed, and Marinette felt squished between bodies again.

“Oh Marinette, you are too precious sometimes. I’m heading down to the bakery to help your father. I’ll see you on your way out!”

Marinette waited until she heard the door close before flying out of the purse.

“Was that too much? I’ve always wanted to be able to talk to your parents, it was very hard not to get carried away.” Tikki apologised, cheeks blushing.

“It’s okay, Tikki. I think my parents margin for behaviour they with accept from me without much thought is wider than most.” Marinette reassured.

“Great! I’m going to hug your papa!” Tikki squealed, before grabbing a lunch bag and tipping the contents of the cookie jar into it, and Marinette had just enough time to get back into the purse before Tikki rushed downstairs. Marinette was concerned that Tikki only grabbed cookies, but was sure that she was just planning on getting breakfast from the bakery.

“Papa! I’m off to school!” Tikki chirped. Once again, Marinette felt herself become squished as her father presumably hugged who he thought was his daughter.

“I hope you have a really good day! You’re the best! Bye!” Marinette could tell Tikki was trying not to say anything suspicious while still trying to let her parents know how much they mean to her, so she wasn’t really bothered by how wildly affectionate she was behaving. As Marinette heard the familiar jingle of the bakery front door opening, she heard her father gushing about what he could have done to deserve such a sweet daughter. Marinette made a mental note to go out of her way to tell her parents how she feels about them more often.

Luckily, the walk to Master Fu’s Massage Parlour went without a hitch, the only close call being an awkward encounter where Tikki thought a woman she couldn’t recognise was trying to wave at Marinette, but then realised she was waving at someone behind her, which Marinette reassured her was a very normal human moment that wouldn’t make anyone suspicious. Upon hearing what happened, Master Fu nodded with understanding and immediately began flicking through his photos of the grimoire.

“Ah, here it is. I’ve never seen it happen in my lifetime, so I’ve never made the potion before. It looks a little complicated, but I should be able to get it done by tonight.” He eventually announced.

“Tonight?! I was hoping that it could be done before we have to go to school.” Tikki yelped, eyes wide with panic. It was clear the excitement from being human was wearing off.

“I understand your concern, but unfortunately some of the things the recipe calls for demand it take that long, like how it needs moonlight, and that’s after being simmered for seven hours.” Master Fu explained with a sympathetic tone. Marinette zipped around to face Tikki.

“Looks like you’ll have to pretend to be me at school, Tikki. You’re with me all the time, so you’re bound to have picked up enough to get by without being suspicious.” Seeing Marinette be confident about the situation gave Tikki the reassurance to calm down. She smiled gratefully before shoving an entire cookie into her mouth, making Marinette laugh.

“We should be fine unless there’s an akuma attack.” She mumbled through the cookie.

“Surely we can explain to Chat Noir what happened and he can take the lead while we get our bearings.” Marinette suggested. A breathy gasp from Master Fu caused the kwami and human to snap their eyes to him. The old man was staring at his phone, brows furrowed.

“Oh no.” He muttered.

“Oh no what?” Marinette asked, glancing between Master Fu and Tikki with concern.

“I have several missed calls from Chat Noir.”


	2. Waking Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How differently will Adrien and Plagg take the swap?

“Adrien! Your alarm has been going off continuously which tells me you’re still asleep. You’ll get up now if you want to prove that you still wish to attend school.”

The sound of Nathalie saying his name startled Adrien awake, and as he took in what she had said, he wondered why the alarm had not woken him before. Now he was awake, he could hear it extremely clearly, so it wasn’t as if it were too quiet. He didn’t bother to blame Plagg for not waking him; that cat could cause an earthquake and sleep through it, he was such a heavy sleeper. Adrien reached forward to turn off the alarm, but was stopped dead in his tracks by the extremely unfamiliar sensation in his arm. He opened his eyes to find himself in what looked like a giant, golden nest. When he moved to touch the shining strands, he blanched when he caught sight of what his hand looked like. Looking down at his body confirmed that it had been replaces by some sort of dark, velvety blob.

“Plagg!” Adrien harshly whispered with panic. Beneath him, the nest groaned deeply, causing Adrien to freeze with fear. It hadn’t occurred to him that the structure he was on could be alive.

“Plagg?” He whimpered softly, hoping it was loud enough for Plagg to hear but not whatever creature that was stirring beneath him. Before he could process how familiar his new voice was, the creature he was lying on top of groaned again before rolling over, flinging Adrien out of the golden nest. Not used to his new, inhuman form, Adrien scrambled awkwardly as he attempted to turn around to get a better look at what he was dealing with. He let out a cat-like yowl when he came face to face with, well…his own face. A terrifyingly large version of his face, to be precise. It was like standing too close to one of the billboards that had the perfume ad on it, but much worse. Those ads had his pores airbrushed out, and they didn’t groan like monsters.

“It’s too early, Adrien. If you’re not going to feed me at least let me sleep while you shower.” The giant face mumbled. Adrien blinked in confusion, the gears in his mind turning slowly as he took in all the information.

“Plagg? Can you open your eyes for a second? I need you to see something.” Adrien asked, hoping to test a theory. The face in front of him sighed dramatically before the eyes fluttered open. The eyes widened with shock, narrowed with concern, before relaxing and shutting again.

“Good morning, Adrien. You’re looking particularly handsome this morning.” The face said with a smug expression. Adrien sighed as his suspicions were confirmed; he and Plagg had somehow swapped bodies.

“Plagg? You better explain what’s going on and- Oh, for the love of – please turn off that alarm!” Adrien growled with irritation. Plagg flopped a hand at Adrien’s phone and lazily swiped the screen, finally silencing the offending noise.

“Thank you. Now can you please explain how or why we’ve swapped bodies?” Adrien prodded. Plagg made a gesture for him to wait, before pushing down on the mattress with his new human hands and lifting his upper body into a seal-like stretch, then sinking back into a bowing pose in a very cat-like manner. Adrien looked up at him expectantly as he finally sat up, still waiting for an answer.

“I don’t know.” Plagg mumbled half-heartedly with a shrug.

“What?! You’re kidding right?” Adrien almost hissed.

“Not really. If we knew how or why the Miraculous magic glitched, we could stop things like this happening.” Plagg explained as he hopped onto his feet and paced over to the mini-bar filled with cheese. Adrien attempted to follow him, but was stopped by tripping over his stumpy kwami legs.

“Why didn’t you tell me your magic could glitch? That seems kind of important.” Adrien groaned as he resigned himself to sitting on the edge of the bed, rather that risk jumping off of it to the floor. It seemed that kwami bodies worked completely differently to what he was used to. He couldn’t even begin to fathom how he would manage to fly, no matter how much the idea excited him.

“Glitches like this are pretty rare, so I was kind of banking on it not becoming relevant. Didn’t want to jinx it by bringing it up. Fat lot of good that did, anyway.” Plagg answered as he browsed the contents of the fridge, engrossed in his decision making. A lightbulb seemed to go off in Plagg’s mind, and a grin washed over his face.

“Hey Adrien, check out how much camembert I can hold with your weird, long arms!” Plagg exclaimed excitedly, before reaching into the fridge with both arms and with a sweeping motion, hugging several wheels of camembert to his chest.

“I can hold so many! Being human is awesome!” Plagg laughed manically. After dumping most of them in Adrien’s school bag, he unwrapped one and very ungracefully shoved nearly the whole thing in his mouth. His chewing slowed as his eyes widened with fear, before spitting out the half-chewed goo.

“Plagg, what’s wrong?” Adrien asked, concerned by the tears that were bubbling in his eyes.

“Camembert tastes horrible with your tastebuds. It made me feel like I was going to throw up! Being human sucks!” Plagg admitted, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. Knowing just how much Plagg loved camembert, Adrien let instincts kick in and found himself floating over to him and offering a nuzzle to his cheek in an attempt to comfort him.

“It’s okay, Plagg. We’ll find a way to reverse this. In the meantime, you can eat things that we know I enjoy to make up for missing your cheese.” Adrien suggested. Plagg’s breathing slowed down and steadied as he gently pet Adrien, sending the now kwami boy into a trance state. Once Plagg had calmed down, he clapped and rubbed his hands together, snapping Adrien out of his daze.

“Alright. I better call up your “Mandarin tutor” and see if he has a spare of the cure lying around.” At the sound of Plagg’s statement, Adrien did a strong double-take.

“Don’t you think it would have been good to mention that you knew about a cure before?” He complained, gesticulating as wildly as his tiny arms could as Plagg picked up his phone.

“Getting cheese was more important than explaining every tiny detail to you. Speaking of which, you shouldn’t let that go to waste.” Plagg commented with a shrug, gesturing to the wet clump of camembert on the floor before dialling Master Fu’s number.

“Ew! After you already half-chewed it?” Adrien questioned with a disgusted tone.

“Yeah, with your mouth. What’s the big deal?” Plagg retorted as he redialled and brought the phone back to his ear. Adrien rolled his eyes and returned to the bed to lie down. Sometimes it was easier to just give up rather than try to get Plagg to understand something. Adrien looked up at his old body to see Plagg frowning as he pulled the phone away from his ear. Hitting redial once more, he began tapping his foot impatiently. When the call failed to be picked up, Plagg grunted with frustration.

“He’s not picking up. Must be meditating or whatever.” He grumbled.

“Just try again after you shower.” Adrien suggested. Plagg froze on the spot.

“After I what?” He whispered harshly. Adrien sighed as he found himself rolling his eyes yet again.

“Plagg, you have to shower. Do you know how much attitude I’ll get from Nathalie if I stink?” He argued.

“I think you smell much better when you don’t shower.” Plagg scoffed.

“Of course you would say that. Come on, Plagg. Please?” Adrien begged. Plagg seemed to contemplate his options, before finally grunting in defeat.

“Fine! But you owe me a whole wheel of camem – I mean, a lot of whatever this body actually likes!” He demanded, before stomping off to the bathroom, discarding his pyjamas before he had even left the room. Adrien recoiled, not needing to see himself from that angle, before flying up to the bathroom and shutting the door as Plagg started the water. The last thing he needed was Nathalie walking in and seeing him. Adrien flew back to where the chewed up camembert had been dumped, intent on cleaning it up before it would make the floor permanently stink. As soon as he approached it, however, he became overwhelmed by the tempting aroma. As he tensed, forcing himself back, he felt his limbs begin to shake and like the room was spinning. Caving to instinct, he quickly ate the entire pile. A warm wave washed over him, causing his body to relax. The good feeling all too quickly began to fade, making him contemplate grabbing another wheel out of the bag. It was only when his phone began to ring that he was able to snap out of it. He bolted to the phone, tapping the screen to accept the call.

“Master Fu!” He exclaimed excitedly.

 _“Plagg?”_ Master Fu’s voice questioned.

“No, it’s A – ” Right when he went to say his name, he was cut off by bubbles that rose from his throat and rippled out of his mouth. Before he could even ask what had just happened, he heard a soft chuckle from the other end.

 _“There is a spell on Plagg that makes it so he cannot say his chosen’s name in front of another kwami, and I have you on speakerphone with Ladybug and Tikki. It looks as though you have both been afflicted with the same glitch.”_ Master Fu explained to him.

 _“How is that possible? Tikki said it was really rare, so the odds of it happening to both of us at the same time don’t stack up.”_ Chirped an adorable, high pitched voice, who Adrien realised must be Ladybug in her kwami’s body, judging by what Master Fu had just said.

_“Don’t underestimate the cosmic link that binds the ladybug and the black cat Miraculous’, Ladybug. They are so intrinsically balanced that it would shock me more if this happened to only one of them.”_

“You hear that, Bugaboo? You complete me!” He cooed into the phone, hoping that she would be able to visualise his eyebrows raising playfully.

 _“Ugh. Chat Noir, can you be serious for once? Master Fu said he won’t be able to finish the cure until this evening, so our kwamis will have to pretend to be us at school.”_ She revealed with a worried tone. Behind Adrien, a door slammed loudly, causing Adrien to flinch in shock before turning around to see in the open doorway to the bathroom Plagg in his body, completely soaking wet with an unfortunate lack of a towel or anything else covering him and a bewildered expression.

“WHAT?! First I have to shower, now I have to participate in school? Someone just put me out of my misery now.”


	3. Don't Be Suspicious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki and Plagg attend school, and one of them is definitely trying harder than the other to not be suspicious

Marinette breathed deeply, attempting to remain calm and collected as she bounced in the purse at Tikki’s hip. Tikki was thousands of years old and had been with her at school every day since she got her, so surely she had picked up enough to get by in class. At this point she didn’t care if people thought she was being weird or not, only that Tikki could manage well enough to not damage her grade or to get caught as an imposter.

“Hey! You’re relatively on time today! The bell’s only about to ring now!” She heard Alya joke. Marinette gulped in a panic, having not realised they had already made it to school.

“I know! I woke up after my first alarm today! A new record!” Tikki giggled, much to Marinette’s displeasure. She wasn’t that bad at waking up, was she? The burst of laughter that came from Alya told her an unfortunate truth.

“You’re in a pretty good mood today. I’d be tempted to say now would be a good time to try to talk to Adrien before you lose that confidence.” Alya bantered. Marinette winced. Would Tikki act like how Marinette wished she could or would she act how Marinette would realistically act?

“Uh, Adrien? Maybe?” Tikki squeaked, apparently not having decided yet.

“Too late! Six o’clock!” Alya murmured.

“Six? I thought it was nearly ni –eeeeeee!” Marinette heard Tikki start to say before emitting a surprised squeal. Marinette slammed into the side of the purse as if something had grabbed it and begun spinning it. She would have been flooded with fear that they’d been attacked by an akuma if it weren’t for the gorgeous sound of Adrien laughing. Marinette regained control when the centrifugal force stopped and decided to risk taking a peek. Phasing her face through the bag, she looked around to see that Tikki was being held up by someone in a very intense bear hug that lifted her off the ground. She bit back a yelp and zipped back completely into the purse when she realised that somebody was Adrien Agreste.

“Hey Sugarcube! Look at how good I can hug when my head doesn’t get in the way! These weird arms are good for something after all!” Marinette heard Adrien exclaim excitedly.

_What. Is. Happening?_

“Put me down, _Adrien_. We don’t want people to think we’re being weird, do we?” Tikki almost growled.

_Oh, no. Tikki is taking not looking weird very seriously._

“Relax, _Marinette_. There’s nothing weird about a guy giving a hug to a girl who is _just a good friend_.” Marinette tilted her head to the side in confusion. Adrien was using a tone of voice that sounded like he was teasing someone, but it didn’t make any sense. Unless…he was making fun of her?

“Careful, Adrien. It really looks like you are making fun of me.” Tikki spoke sternly, as if reading her mind. Marinette barely hid a shriek as she felt Tikki suddenly drop.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! I was jus – ”

“I know what you were trying to do, just be more careful.” Tikki reassured dismissively. The moment Marinette felt Tikki walking away, something hit into the purse with the thud that Marinette could only assume was the side of a body. Was this how Tikki felt being thrashed around in her purse all the time?

“Okay, girl. You have got to explain to me what just happened.” Alya said in an excited, hushed tone.

“I-I don’t know?” Tikki squeaked, clearly not sure what she could say that wouldn’t be suspicious. Marinette sighed. They were not going to last a whole day sitting next to Alya.

 

Adrien was fuming as he shovelled slices of camembert into his mouth. Plagg was meant to be acting like him so nobody would be suspicious, but so far he had just done whatever he felt like. He had tolerated it at home, as nobody seemed to pay enough attention to him to notice he was acting strange, but picking up and spinning sweet little Marinette, the girl Plagg consistently pushed him towards, was too far. Adrien could only imagine it going two ways; she was either going to be scared of him, or she was going to be lead on. The idea of toying with her feelings in anyway made Adrien angry…and hungry.

“What was that?!” Adrien whispered harshly, once he heard Marinette and Alya walk away. Plagg opened the bag slightly as to make eye contact with him.

“Just so you know, I was making fun of you, not her.”

“Pfft…yeah, that much was clear. I meant picking her up and spinning her around? How is that going to look to everyone? That’s not fair to Marinette at all!” Adrien lectured, flourishing the end of his sentence with another big bite of cheese. Plagg appeared to contemplate his words.

“I guess you’re right. That blogger girl is probably going to be hounding her all day now. Don’t worry, I’ll fix this.” Plagg announced before closing the bag again.

“Oh, and one more thing; don’t go so quickly through the cheese. I know it’s tempting, but you have to save some for later in case there’s an akuma.” Plagg warned softly, making Adrien stop in his tracks. Was Plagg really trying to talk to him about self-control? That cat never saved any for later, so that warning was rich coming from him. Besides, Adrien had great self-control; he’d only eaten…three entire wheels? How? Okay, maybe Plagg had a point. He put the slice he was about to eat back into the wrapping, and tried to shift his focus to whatever Plagg was whispering to Nino. No matter how much he forced focus, his attention kept drifting back to the camembert.

“Hey Marinette, can I sit next to you today?” That managed to get Adrien’s full attention.

“I was going to sit with Alya, so I’ll have to see if she’s okay with it.” Marinette chirped back, thankfully it didn’t sound like she was all that affected by Plagg’s actions.

“That’s very considerate of you; thinking about how she feels before making her move.” Plagg commented with a feigned tone of innocence.

“PL – uh…I mean, please wait?” Marinette stuttered. After a happy, somehow unsuspecting agreement from Alya to move, Adrien bit back an ‘oof’ when the bag he was in suddenly thudded to the floor. Adrien wasn’t quite sure why Plagg wanted to sit next to Marinette; surely it would be easier to not flag as suspicious next to Nino. Plagg has seen Adrien interact with him enough to be able to copy behaviour.

“So Adrien, do you have a reason you wanted to sit next to me today?” Marinette questioned.

“I felt bad about being weird and knew Alya would be up in your grill about it, so this seemed like a good way to avoid an interrogation.” Plagg explained. Adrien was pleasantly surprised that Plagg was making a genuine attempt to help.

“It also seemed like a good excuse to be nice and close to you, cookie.” Plagg admitted with a sleazy tone, and to Adrien’s continued horror, he could hear him sliding along the bench closer to her. A small scoffing noise emitted from Marinette. Adrien contemplated taking a peek to see just how close Plagg was getting to her.

“Oh, Adrien!” Chimed a familiar, dreaded voice.

_Oh no._

“Seeing as Nino wants to sit next to his girlfriend today instead of you, how about you sit next to me? We all know Marinette can get easily distracted, and I know she’ll want to be able to focus today in class. Besides, I can always use your help” Lila practically cooed. Adrien knew she was batting her eyelashes by the tone of her voice. Why did she think that would trick him?

“Actually, I chose to sit next to Marinette today, so I’m good. Buh-bye.” Plagg informed dryly without even a hint of fake politeness. Plagg remembers that Lila gets akumatised really easily, right?

“Adrien, that was a bit rude. You should apologise.” Marinette warned.

“Save it. I know when I’m not wanted.” Lila sighed in a woe-is-me manner, before Adrien heard her walk away.

“Wow, Marinette taking the high road and Adrien finally being assertive? If I didn’t know any better I’d say they swapped bodies.” Alya joked. If only she knew how close to the truth she was.

“Alya, you read way too many comic books.”

The next half an hour of class went by relatively smooth; aside from Adrien’s burning need to have more camembert. He was restraining himself so much that he seemed to be sweating, despite the chill he felt over his body. He considered if Plagg’s body was sick and wondered if normal cold and flu treatments worked on kwamis. Probably not. A rapping sound from the front of the room broke him out of his hypnotic state.

“Adrien, if you can’t focus next to Marinette I’ll have to move you.” Mme Bustier chided, followed by giggling from around the room. Before anything else could be said, a series of screams coming from somewhere close by cut through the air. Adrien winced, not sure if Plagg will be able to sneak away inconspicuously.

“Mme Bustier, my stomach hurts! Can I go to the nurses office?” Marinette suddenly requested, voice sounding worried.

“I’m not sure it would be safe to leave the classroom in the middle of an akuma attack.” Mme Bustier reasoned.

“I can go with her and make sure she’s safe!” Adrien heard his own voice trumpet out. He was almost proud of how smoothly Plagg had found a way to get out of the classroom.

“Okay then, but make sure you stick to each other.”

“Like glue, madame.” Plagg added with a blatantly cheeky tone. Hopefully nobody else noticed. The line of thought did bring up a new problem; how were they meant to slip away from Marinette when they’d been instructed to stay together? Adrien heard Plagg stand up, and realised that it would be suspicious if he brought the bag with him, so he grabbed a slice of camembert and made a break for the jacket pocket. Oh boy was he glad he figured out flying and phasing earlier. Once in his new hiding spot, he was startled by just how loud his body’s heartbeat was. The sound was very hard to ignore, so Adrien found himself wondering why Plagg seemed to prefer hiding here.

“Okay, we both know you don’t need an escort to stay safe, so I’m just going to go to the bathroom. Catch ya later.” Plagg stated. When Adrien didn’t hear a response, he assumed that Marinette had walked in the opposite direction.

“That wasn’t exactly smooth.” Adrien commented, popping out from the jacket once he felt Plagg stop moving. Plagg shrugged with a blasé expression.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Come on, we’ve got an akuma to deal with.” Adrien reminded. A grin spread over the human’s face that was usually reserved for mischief.

“I hope you’re ready for how this will feel. Adrien, claws out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tikki and Plagg trying not to be suspicious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyNUbS75CbQ


	4. Baby's First Transformation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who would have thought being magically pulled into jewelry would be disorientating? What's worse is they don't even have a good view!

Adrien knew it would happen, but nothing could prepare him for the sensation of being physically pulled toward the ring like a high powered vacuum cleaner, then to lose his sense of having a body at all as he was finally sucked in. He felt like he was energy being warped and stretched, like he was electricity making it’s way around a closed circuit, but was simultaneously an expanding foam that was stretching around an object. No, not an object…a person. The more Adrien focused, the more he could feel the presence of another being with him. Straining with concentration, Adrien was slowly able to make out a voice, and the more he tried, the less it sounded like it was underwater.

“ – was  priceless! One should hope he’ll be more empathetic in future before he springs any sudden transformations on me.” Adrien could finally make out his own voice, which was presumably Plagg making fun of him for looking surprised when they transformed.

“Plagg, can you please focus? We need to find that akuma and deal with it quickly before Hawkmoth notices something is up with us!” Adrien perked up as much as he could without having a physical presence.

_Ladybug!_

A second after his initial excitement, he remembered that it was Tikki, and that his Lady was in a similar state of being to him. It dawned on him that he wouldn’t be able to talk to her until they manage to swap back, which hurt to think about. Stronger than ever, he wished they would reveal their identities to each other, that way even when something like this happened, he’s still have the comfort of talking to her.

Realising that he no longer could hear what was going on, Adrien restarted his focus. It appeared that they were already in the middle of the fight, judging by the grunts he could hear from Plagg. It was pretty concerning and expectedly infuriating not being able to completely know what was happening outside of what was being said. Maybe if Plagg said more puns about what was happening, he would have a clearer idea. Was this how much Plagg was always able to perceive while transformed? Or was Adrien struggling due to a lack of experience?

“Tikki, how many times are you going to forget you can’t fly?” He heard Plagg laugh out, quickly followed by adorable, angry huffing.

“This is stupid! Real ladybug insects can fly, why can’t Ladybug? Chat Noir gets night vision and can purr so it’s totally unfair!” Tikki lamented, which brought out more laughter from Plagg.

“Even when you’re a weird human you’re adorable when you’re grumpy.”

_Wow, Plagg is really into Tikki._

“Plagg! Can we please refocus? This is already hard enough without you distracting me.” He heard her groan in frustration. It was quite jarring to see just how much the kwamis seemed to parallel their holders. Plagg was always so cute on the rare occasion Adrien ever got him to talk about Tikki, but hearing how unrestrained he was being with showing her affection told him just how much the kwami had been holding back. Was Plagg scared of showing Adrien his feelings? It took a while to get the kwami to warm up to him, but Adrien thought that he had also gotten the tiny god to trust him too. If he were still a physical entity he would have sighed. It seemed he still had a ways to go with Plagg.

“I’m going to need to summon a charm. M – I mean Ladybug, I need you to focus really hard for me. Imagine you have a fire that is going out and you need to revive it, but if you fan too hard the fire will get too big and spread out of control so you can only give it a gentle blow. Think of that and try to release the smallest amount of energy you can. Ready? Lucky Charm!” Once the charm had been summoned, he heard both Plagg and Tikki sigh in relief.

_What were they scared of happening?_

“I’ve got it! Plagg, can you degrade that manhole to the point where it will collapse if someone steps on it?” Tikki asked, to which Plagg let out a shocked gasp.

“Bug, I don’t know if the kid will be able to release such a small amount of destructive energy. Will your plan still work if the entire road disintegrates, per chance?” Plagg asked, sounding incredibly nervous.

“I’m sorry Plagg. Please just try.”

Adrien found himself getting increasingly alarmed at how serious the two of them were being. The few times he had seen Plagg use his power of destruction unfiltered through him, the damage had been catastrophic despite how hard the kwami had tried to be gentle. He heard Plagg breath in deeply.

“Okay, kitten. I need you to concentrate really hard. When you release the energy for our power, it’s going to want to come out all at once, like a hydrogen bomb going off. Release just too much, and you’ll disintegrate the manhole and chunks of the road surrounding it, but losing control for just a second could level the entire city.” Plagg warned.

“Plagg! You’re probably scaring him!” Tikki growled disapprovingly.

“Good! He needs to be scared, not cocky. That’s how he’s going to be able to control my power. Kitten, I want you to imagine you’re holding a balloon and a skewer. Visualise what you need to do to pierce the skewer through the balloon without popping it as you release the smallest amount of energy you can.” Plagg instructed. Adrien obeyed, visualising the balloon and skewer in front of him. He imagined putting a piece of scotch tape on the side of the balloon, before imagining pressing the skewer into the taped surface with just the right amount of pressure…

“Cataclysm!” With Plagg’s shout, Adrien felt an insane amount of power surge through his consciousness, remembering to bottle it in while visualising applying a controlled amount of pressure. In his mind, the skewer pierced the taped material without bursting the balloon. A dramatic sigh with much more intensity than had been given for the Lucky Charm escaped from Plagg. Adrien hoped that meant he pulled it off. A moment later, Adrien was hit with a wave of exhaustion. It really took a lot of energy holding back all that…well, energy. No wonder Plagg was so dramatic after battles. Adrien felt a surprising urge to just let go and relax, followed by the blaring sound of a beep. Figuring letting go would result in a detransformation, he held himself back, focusing on clinging to this weird subdimension within the ring.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Adrien startled at the sound of the triumphant cry, not realising he had spaced out to begin with. Hearing the familiar voice made him wonder if his lady was feeling as haggard as he was.

 

As Marinette assumed the magic swarm of ladybugs washed over the damage of the battle, she felt a warm, tingling feeling ripple through her consciousness, like the world’s most gentle electric fence. The sensation helped her stay awake as she fought off her fatigue from forcing herself to only use a fraction of Tikki’s creation magic. Tikki had implied through her visualisation that giving too much energy would make them lose control, but the fact that she also seemed to have avoided telling her what could happen to stop her from getting scared only made her anxious in hindsight. What did out of control look like for creation magic? What would have been the limitations? Were there any?

“Pound it!” Tikki and Plagg exclaimed with an intense amount of enthusiasm, before bursting into a fit of giggles together.

“We did great work for our first time as humans, so we definitely earned that fist bump.” Tikki commented cheerfully. Within the earrings, Marinette tried to tune out the beeping sound that echoed around her.

“Welp, time to feed the kids. See ya later, sweetie.” Plagg farewelled, before Marinette could only hear the sound of her own breathing and a rushing wind.

“Marinette, spots off.” With the command, Marinette almost felt like the floor had been removed from beneath her, only instead of feeling like she was falling downwards, she felt like she was falling outwards somehow. The sensation of having a physical form again was like being hugged into a shock blanket. Finally she was able to open her eyes again to see her own face upside down.

“Tikki, why are you upside down?” Marinette asked, voice laced with confusion. Tikki giggled in a delightful way that Marinette had no idea her body was capable of. Hands reached towards her until they pressed gently on her sides, before turning her tiny form over. Marinette looked around and realised that she was indeed the one who had been upside down. Tikki’s giggling faded into a warm smile as she dropped her hands back down.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Marinette. Re-materialising can be very disorientating, and it was your very first time. You did such an amazing job today! You should be proud!” Tikki reassured.

“What could have gone wrong if I let too much energy out?” Marinette blurted out. Tikki winced, as if anticipating this type of question.

“Well, it really depends on what you mean by too much energy. Usually when I slip up, it’s only a tiny bit and it ends up as a giant version of whatever was meant to be made. But, if you weren’t able to control it at all, you could have generated an asteroid, or even a small planet. But don’t worry! I knew you could do it! Especially if I didn’t give you too much to be anxious about!” She explained, not nearly as reassuring as she hoped she was being. Marinette opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly found herself feeling incredibly hungry.

“Tikki, can I get a cookie?” She squeaked out, causing Tikki to widen her eyes with surprise.

“Oh! Of course! There should be some left…” Tikki chirped, before digging into Marinette’s purse and pulling out a rather sizable choc-chip cookie. Excited, Marinette flew to the cookie and clamped her tiny limbs on either side of it in an attempt to grab it with no fingers. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but it sure was awkward. Marinette noticed Tikki holding her hands out like a bowl, and took it as a sign that her friend understood how she was feeling and was offering help. Gratefully, she sat down in the hands and rested the cookie and she chomped away at it. After reaching the halfway point, she felt a lot better and was having a lot more success with holding it, so she grabbed it and flew back into the purse.

“You should head back to class before anyone gets any more suspicious.” Marinette advised as she nestled into her hiding spot. She heard a soft thud that sounded suspiciously like a hand slapping into a forehead, before she was suddenly thrown to the side as if Tikki had lurched forward and stopped suddenly stopped. Marinette did not like the groaning that was coming out of Tikki.

“Tikki? What’s wrong?”

“Your stomach feels really bad. Is this what needing to throw up feels like?” Tikki mumbled through more groaning.

“Maybe? Did whatever you ate for breakfast taste weird or spoiled to you?” Marinette questioned, hoping that Tikki hadn’t gotten food poisoning during her one, rare day as a human.

“No, all the cookies tasted the same.” Tikki answered.

_Wait a minute…_

“Tikki, have you eaten nothing but cookies all day?” Marinette interrogated, sticking her head out of the purse in order to give Tikki a disapproving look. The guilty expression on her face told Marinette everything she needed to know.

“I can’t believe you’ve been living with humans for thousands of years and you still need it explained to you that we need to eat more than just cookies to satisfy our stomachs and to stay healthy.” She scolded, causing Tikki to flinch.

“I do know that, I just got excited by how quickly I could eat so many cookies because this mouth is so big and I can hold so many at once now, so I…forgot it wasn’t good for you.” Tikki explained, hiding her face in her hands from embarrassment.

“It’s okay, Tikki. Just let it be known that you’re never allowed to lecture me on eating junk food again, alright?” Marinette told her in a playful, teasing voice which won a soft giggle from her friend. Even though Tikki made a mistake, it wasn’t the end of the world. She could always go home and get a nice balanced sandwich off of her parents. After instructing as much, Marinette returned to her hiding place within the purse and relaxed to the soft bouncing of the purse as Tikki walked, the rhythm of it almost rocking her to sleep. As long as there wasn’t another akuma attack, she couldn’t imagine what would stop her from nodding off.

“Hey! There you are _Marinette_! I’ve been told a pretty bold claim that you will know what my mouth would like!”

No amount of imagination could have prepared her for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading the update! I hope you enjoyed my imagining of what it is like for the kwami during transformations. I've tried not to spell out my theories about their powers because too much exposition would be dull, but if I've made it too confusing or whatever I'm happy to answer any questions


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